The bright rays of the morning sun woke Dawnsky, and she stretched out her aching legs. Two moons had passed since she and Willowfur had gotten into a fight, and they still had barely spoken. She narrowed her eyes to clear her vision, and she could see her sister sleeping in the far corner of the warriors den, away from her.

Whitestar's wounds had completely healed, but Lakeheart still seemed constantly stressed. Lilysong had died of a strange sickness earlier that Lakeheart had never seen or heard of before. Dawnsky could still see the grief in both Nightpelt and Firefur's eyes, though Firefur made it less obvious how distraught he was than Nightpelt. Firefur seemed more silent than usual, but other than that he was usually his normal self.

Dawnsky and Willowfur had been very upset when they had found out that she had died. Lilysong was like a mother to both of them, since Dappledtree had left so early in their lives. Willowfur had mostly kept to herself like Firefur, and Dawnsky could tell that she was still seeing that rogue, whoever he was. It made her fur bristle every time she thought about it. There was something about that rogue scent that was very familiar, but she couldn't tell who he was.

"Hey Dawnsky! Want to go hunting with us?" Firefur asked. He, Pebblefur, and Orangetail were gathered near the tunnel leading out of camp.

"Sure!" She mewed after a yawn. She quickly licked her pelt that was ruffled from last night's troubled sleep.

Almost every night for the past week she had the same, disturbing dream. It was always the same scene: ice stretched out as far as she could see, strange cats surrounded her. She would take a step and the ice would crack and melt before her paws. Every night she would try something different in an attempt to escape the melting ice, but wherever she stepped or ran or jumped, she would crash and fall through into darkness. Before she woke up, a booming voice would state, "Through great difficulty you shall rise like the break of dawn, but beware for the ice is thin."

She shook her head to clear the memory, and rushed up to join Firefur's hunting patrol. She had finally began to settle in again, but she still felt that she hadn't really proved herself loyal yet. She had tried to join any patrol she could to make up for the three moons she had missed when she was away. Whitestar had even told her one day to not leave camp since she looked so tired. Lakeheart had ordered her to stay in her den and rest.

Now Dawnsky was back to her normal routine, and she sleepily followed Firefur through the undergrowth. She spotted a mouse that was nibbling on a berry, and totally unaware of her presence. She stalked towards it and pounced. The mouse let out a squeak before Dawnsky bit into its neck, instantly killing it. She said a silent prayer of thanks to Star Clan and moved on after burying the mouse.

Pebblefur was in front of her, stalking a thrush. He stepped on a twig and the bird started to fly away. He leapt into the air and extended his forepaws. He hooked his claws into the bird and brought it down. He bit its spine and put it down by his pile of fresh kill.

"Great catch!" Dawnsky purred.

"Thanks!" He mewed, flicking his ears.

She continued to hunt, and after a while she had caught three more mice and a vole.

Stormfeather and Firefur came back with their jaws full of prey. Firefur had caught two huge squirrels and Stormfeather carried a sparrow and two mice. The patrol carried their bounty back to camp and placed the prey in the fresh kill pile. I'm so glad it's new leaf... Dawnsky thought happily to herself, at one point it seemed like leaf bare would never end!

She padded into her den to take a nap, when suddenly she noticed that Willowfur wasn't in the warriors den. She sighed in annoyance and walked outside to see if she was somewhere around the camp. She couldn't see her anywhere, and so she quickly headed towards the dirtplace tunnel where she could sneak out unnoticed. She growled, knowing that Nightpelt was the only cat who still didn't trust her.

Dawnsky held her breath as she swiftly raced out of the dirtplace tunnel. She shook her fur to try and get rid of the scent, and then headed back into the forest. She followed Willowfur's scent easily, and then picked up another rogue scent. She and the rogue must have met here at first.... she concluded, I need to follow her; I can't let her make the same mistake that I did...

She made sure to keep hidden in the deepest part of the undergrowth as she headed towards her scent. She could hear voices, and she knew that she had found them. She picked up the same, familiar scent again and stiffened. Who could she be with that I know? She tried to think hard, The only cat that I would know that she could possibly be with is Bear. Bear wouldn't do that.... would he?!

The fur on her neck bristled and she unsheathed her claws, If that cat is Bear... I'm going to kill him or die trying! She crept up a little closer until she could make out two figures that were sitting close together and talking happily with each other. She narrowed her eyes and could see Willowfur's black and white markings. It was harder to see the other cat, and she scooted foward a little. The cat was a large silver tabby. She let out a relieved breath that she didn't even know she was holding. She took in another breath of his scent and finally realized who it was, "Storm?!" She accidentally whispered out loud.

The two cats stopped talking and stiffened. Willowfur stood up and padded directly towards Dawnsky. Storm quickly pushed in front of her, "Here, let me handle this. It might be dangerous." He parted the branches that was hiding Dawnsky and he gasped, stepping back, "Dawnsky?!"

She laughed nervously, "Hey...."

Willowfur moved next to Storm, "Dawnsky! What are you- are you spying on us?!"

"I-"

"And Storm, how do you know Dawnsky?" She asked him skeptically.

"Didn't she tell you? She and Bear-"

"He helped me when I was away!" Dawnsky quickly interrupted, not wanting him to reveal where she had been, "From... a bear..."

Willowfur glared at her, obviously not believing her story, "And how far away did you go?"

"Pretty far... the bear would've killed me if Storm hadn't... you know... been there and stuff."

Storm looked at Dawnsky like she was crazy, but Dawnsky narrowed her eyes in a warning glance for him to keep quiet. Willowfur waited for Storm's reply. He cleared his throat, "Yeah... that 'Bear' was pretty scary." He mewed awkwardly.

"Uh huh..." she growled, "So how did you get rid of the bear?"

They exchanged glances and Storm spoke up again, "I, um, pushed it off a cliff?"

"Actually it fell off a cliff." She quickly added in.

Willowfur rolled her eyes, "Well never mind that. Dawnsky, you know that no matter what you try to do, I will never stop visiting Storm!"

Dawnsky sighed, "You don't know what you're getting into...." She then turned away, giving up any hope of Willowfur ever listening to her. She just hoped that no other cat would find out.

***

Later that night, Dawnsky curled up in her nest, her blue eyes clouded with exhaustion. Her eyelids drooped and she yawned loudly. She was too tired to even think about what had happened earlier, and she let sleep take her.

She awoke with the acrid stench of the dark forest filling her nose. She gagged a little, but then looked up when she saw Shadowstripe appear in front of her. He had the same menacing smile, and he stepped up towards her, "Did you miss me?" He snarled.

"Actually it was very peaceful when you weren't visiting me every night!" She spat.

"No need to get angry," he hissed.

"What do you want, Shadowstripe?" She asked, exasperation in her tone.

"I just want to know what you're going to do about the little situation with your sister."

"What do you mean?" Dawnsky asked.

"Umm aren't you going to report it to Whitestar? You wouldn't want to make the wrong decision again, would you?" He sneered.

"Of course I'm not going to report it to Whitestar!" She hissed, "I couldn't hurt my sister like that."

"How would you like to not have a sister at all?" He threatened.

"You wouldn't dare!" She gasped.

"Oh yes I would. And you would deserve it for making such a bad decision."

"That's it!" She snapped, "Why do you even care about my decisions?! How does it benefit you, haunting me every night about whether my decisions help the clan or not? Aren't you a dark forest cat that doesn't even care about the warrior code?!"

"Stop!" He growled, an angry look in his cold amber eyes, "I have plenty of reasons for what I've done. But what makes you think I'm going to tell you?"

Dawnsky got angrier by the second. She unsheathed her claws and leapt right on top of Shadowstripe. He yowled in surprise and thrust his long front claws across her face. She gasped and fell back, blood flowing out of the scar on her forehead from when she was an apprentice that Shadowstripe had just reopened. She could barely see as the sticky red blood flowed down her face.

She heard Shadowstripe as he bounded for her. He pounced on her and pinned her to the ground, "Did you really think you could beat me?" He snarled, his eyes looking directly into hers.

Dawnsky struggled to get out of his grasp, but he easily held her down. He leaned in closer to her, "Do you have any idea how many cats I have killed?"

All she could do was shake her head. She tried to keep herself from trembling, but it was no use. Could he really kill her in a dream? She didn't want to find out.

"So you really want to know why I have been haunting you your whole life?" He growled in a quiet yet threatening voice.

"Uh...huh...." she struggled to breathe.

He stepped off of her, and she took in a deep breath. She quickly wiped the blood out of her eyes and sat down. Her body was still trembling; she wanted more than ever to get out of this dream!

"Well I'll make it quick then," he hissed, as if he read her mind, "since it's almost morning."

"Did you know that your family line has had the most number of cats go to the dark forest in Ice Clan?" He questioned.

"Umm no..." she mewed, feeling uncomfortable.

"Have you noticed that there's some sort of pattern in each generation?"

"Well, no." She mewed, her pelt hot with embarrassment.

"Not very observant, are you?" He smirked, "Well here, let me point it out for you. Every generation since I was around, one member from your family has gone insane."

"What? No, that can't be true!"

"But it is. First there was Larkflight, also known as Larkstar-"

"Who?" She asked.

"Don't remember her from any nursery stories, huh?" He smiled, looking satisfied for some reason, "Well she wasn't leader for very long. Anyways, it started with her, then Fernheart, then Stonepelt, and then Dappledtree."

"Yeah, so? What does that have to do with you haunting me?"

"You seriously don't get it, do you? Those stupid cats didn't go insane from natural causes. I made them go insane!"

"Wait, what?! B-but how?" She cried in a quivering voice.

"I did it to them the same way I'm doing it to you," he smiled, "and you're next."

"What?! No!" She was breathing very hard now, and she fought the urge to panic right on the spot, "Why?"

He studied his claws and grinned to himself, "Oh, you know, revenge purposes."

"Why did you choose me?" She asked, making herself calm down.

"Because you were the weakest," he mewed.

She stared straight into Shadowstripe's glowing amber eyes and spoke in a steady tone, "I'm stronger than you think."

"Oh really?" He laughed as he started to fade, "Well then let's see how you handle your next decision..."

She could hear her name echo all around her as Shadowstripe and the dark forest quickly faded away into blackness, "Dawnsky! Dawnsky!"

Suddenly her eyes shot open, and she quickly lifted her head. The dream was finally over.

((Yaay I finished this chapter quicker than I thought I would!!!! :D But anyways, Dawnstar's Decision is almost over, but after I finish it I will probably do a story on Shadowstripe.))